Blog Posts by Ezra Dyer

Porsche is throwing itself something of an ongoing birthday party this year to honor the gestation of the 911 50 years ago. Fifty years is a great run for any single model, but especially for one that belongs to the realm of expensive sports cars. Many a would-be 911 competitor has come and gone over the course of its tenure, but that flat six is still playing its funky tune out behind the rear axle. To salute this accomplishment, but also just to have silly fun, I took the new 991-series Carerra S to Carolina Motorsports Park to evaluate the latest 911 in its natural environment: a track.

It’s always dangerous to engage in hyperbole, particularly when that hyperbole pertains to some sort of world title (witness the bickering between Bugatti and Guinness over the Veyron’s top-speed honors). But I feel confident proclaiming that the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG wagon rivals the Batman roller coaster as the world’s most effective way to impart G-forces on your children. That’s just a fact.

If you care to prove me wrong, find me another wagon that does 0-60 mph in 3.6 seconds. OK, that’s the number for the 2014 model, which has all-wheel-drive. But the rear-wheel-drive 2013 model still knocks off 60 mph in 4.2 seconds (and surely does better burnouts). Hold onto your Happy Meals, everybody!

If we were playing a word association game and I said, “fun Subaru,” your response would probably be, “BRZ.” For the past year or so, the BRZ has garnered more attention than the rest of the Subaru lineup combined. And that little rear-wheel-drive drift machine is a riot. But for a mere $300 beyond the BRZ’s $26,265 base price, you could have a car that’s faster, more comfortable, more year-round usable and potentially more orange. And it’s right there in the same showroom. No, not the Tribeca. I’m talking about the WRX.

In early 2010 Nissan unveiled the Leaf, its groundbreaking electric car. Until that point, Nissan was conspicuously absent from the hybrid game, offering only a hybrid Altima that used a Toyota-designed system. With the debut of the Leaf, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn explained his apathy toward hybrids: “If you have an efficient battery for a hybrid, why not go all the way and go for electric cars?” he said. Ghosn also memorably compared hybrids to mermaids. And not in a good way.

We all know the Ford SVT Raptor is a mean machine: flared fenders, 35-inch tires, more than a foot of desert-swallowing suspension travel. The thing is, not all Raptors end up prowling the wilds of Arizona, tearing across dry washes at 80 mph. You see Raptors in the city. The question is, why?

It turns out that the attributes that make the Raptor such a competent off-roader also translate to the urban jungle.

Not long ago, 400 horsepower was a big deal for an exotic car. Now 400 horses is the ballpark for a nice pickup truck, and 600 horsepower seems to be the new magic number for an outrageous car. Clearly, the exotics of today are faster than their antecedents from a quarter-century ago. But does faster always equal better? I took a 1988 Lamborghini Countach 5000s Quattrovalvole and a 2014 Aston Martin Vanquish to the Pacific Coast Highway to find out.

There’s no concrete definition of a supercar, but to me the term conjures Carrera GTs and Bugattis and McLarens—kings of the jungle, with massive horsepower, a top speed measured in Mach and a price high enough to thwart the hoi polloi from ever laying sight on so much as a key. There are still cars that fit that mold, but Mercedes-Benz is one company that actually dared to dial back the outrageousness of its flagship two-seater.

Compared to the old SLR McLaren, the Mercedes SLS AMG GT has less power, a lower top speed and not even half the sticker price ($199,500 before destination charge—why, that’s not even $200,000!). In any given rolling drag race, an SL63 AMG might smoke it. There was never any doubt about the primacy of the SLR McLaren. The SLS is a different proposition.

The Mercedes-Benz G-Class is the most unlikely semi-ubiquitous vehicle on the road. The G, also know as the Gelandewagen, was introduced in 1979 and still looks pretty much exactly the same as it did back in the Carter administration. This machine, and this machine alone, appears weirdly immune to the forces that compel other vehicles — even classics like the Jeep Wrangler — to undergo a redesign now and then. The G-Wagen is like Richard from Lost, always looking the same regardless of the era in which it appears.